Quick Earning Expanded Role

Brian Quick was so caught up in the moment of his first touchdown catch that he forgot to retrieve the ball as a keepsake while he celebrated with his teammates.

As the season moves forward, though, Quick should get plenty more chances to find a memento for his work as he continues to earn more and more opportunities.

“He’s coming on,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “He shows he can make plays. We’ll try to increase his opportunities as we move forward. And we’ll look to find more ways to get him involved.”

To this point in his rookie season, Quick’s role has been limited to a handful of snaps per week at his usual wide receiver position. But as is custom with any wideout who isn’t in the starting lineup, there’s a level of expectation that he can contribute on special teams as well.

In Quick’s case, his sole focus to this point has been on handling his role in the offense and learning the system as fast as possible so he can contribute there. But Quick is getting a comfort level in that regard that could allow his role to expand to special teams.

No matter what it takes for Quick to get on the field, he’s willing to do it.

“I just work to get better in practice and hopefully I’ll be able to play more in the game,” Quick said. “I’ve just got to make sure I get better out there on the practice field first and stay detailed in everything they ask me to do.”

Quick flashed a shining example of getting better in things he’s asked to do last week against San Francisco.

During the Rams’ bye week, Quick said he was getting closer to feeling comfortable enough on the field to react instead of think his way through routes. With fellow rookie wideout Chris Givens on the sideline because of a suspension, Quick was thrown into the mix on the team’s first drive.

Running a go route on a play originally designed for Givens, Quick hit San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver with a fierce stiff arm that shed him almost immediately at the line of scrimmage and Culliver tumbled to the ground.

Quarterback Sam Bradford immediately found the wide-open Quick, who caught the pass in stride and raced down the sideline where he encountered Pro Bowl caliber safety Dashon Goldson before the end zone.

Goldson got the same treatment as Culliver as Quick shed him and raced into the end zone.The play was a step forward for Quick on something has heard repeatedly since his arrival in St. Louis with emphasis on using his tremendous size (6’3, 225 pounds) to push smaller defensive backs around.

“I’m a physical player,” Quick said. “It’s going to happen from now on if they continue to feed me. That’s what I’m supposed to do, get them off me, get the ball and make an effort to score.”

The touchdown play only made Quick hungry for more and from all indications, he’s earned more opportunities, be it in an expanded role on offense or even on special teams.

Making just that one big play could be invaluable for Quick in terms of his confidence moving forward, as well.

“It boosted my confidence a lot,” Quick said. “I knew I could make the play but everybody believing in me and just telling me ‘look, you can make that play,’ it helped me a lot. Then actually making the play there was a lot of excitement. That’s probably why I didn’t keep the game ball because I was so excited. But it definitely helped.”

By no means is the Quick stepping on the field against the Jets this week anything resembling a finished product but he is taking the appropriate steps to get better and help the team in more ways.

That’s why Quick isn’t satisfied with any parts of his game.

“(It’s) just everything,” Quick said. “There are always things you have got to improve on. We were just talking about that in the meeting room, the little things we all need to work on. So we just do that and then carry it on to the playing field.”

The more areas in which Quick can improve, the more chances he’ll get to do just that.